This report is published by the Cyprus Federation of Employers & Industrialists (OEB), the Institute of Greek Tourism Confederation (INSETE) and the public policy consultancy adelphi (Germany) as part of the European project Hotels4Climate financed by EUKI.

The report aims to assess the current state of circularity in the hotel industry in Cyprus and Greece by conducting national surveys in both countries targeting hotels in order to:

• identify the priority sectors within the main services offered by hotels, the business challenges and opportunities to move to circular economy,
• create successful, flexible and resilient circular business models, and
• identify a number of internal and external barriers that raise obstacles to the transition to circular economy.

The circular economy is an alternative to the dominant economic model, which causes considerable damage to the environment as it is based on the linear use of resources.

The development of the circular economy has been hindered by a number of economic, technological and regulatory constraints.

EpE's natural resources commission has spent three years identifying what makes circular economy initiatives successful. An analysis of 27 circular economy initiatives carried out by companies shows that partnerships are one key to overcoming these constraints. A closer examination of these partnerships sheds light on various forms of governance.

18 Italian Consumer Associations sponsored by Eni have identified the challenges to be tackled and the actions to be implemented in order to empower consumers for the circular economy transition in a document titled Circular Consumption Charter.

According to the Charter, circular consumption should be:

1. Educated, conscious
2. Transparent
3. Properly informed 
4. Ongoing comparative
5. Balanced
6. Multiple lifetime
7. Shared and collaborative
8. Increasingly digital
9. Inclusive green
10. Accessible
11. Moderate, non-wasteful

 Proposed actions

1. Circular education pathways
2. Labelling handbook
3. Circular product digital data sheet
4. Circular incentives
5. Physical platforms
6. Digital platform
7. Monitoring and disseminating

For more information click here.

Textiles are an important issue for cities, as people generate more and more textile waste. City authorities are required to provide for separate collection of used textiles but have limited ways of putting the waste generated to good use.

Eurocities’ paper on circular textiles is published ahead of the Commission's new Strategy for Sustainable Textiles, planned for autumn 2021, to help the EU shift to a climate-neutral, circular economy (CE) where products are designed to be more durable, reusable, repairable, recyclable and energy-efficient. It focuses on a sustainable recovery of the textile sector from the Covid-19 crisis by:

• making it more competitive,
• applying CE principles to production, waste management, etc.
• and directing investment, research and innovation.

The transition to a circular economy is at an early stage in the EU.

Regulations, markets and investment tools, including financial risk assessment, are adapted to linear models. Generally speaking, externalities linked to linear business models are not taken into account. This poses a problem for emerging circular models, which have to contend with the challenge of accessing finance, as the financial sector sees circular projects as highly risky.

To improve the conditions for financing CE projects, the Expert Group on Circular Economy Financing identified the main areas where incentives are needed, addressing recommendations to policy makers, financial institutions and project promoters.

See also: Categorisation system and Incentives to boost the CE reports